Just spoke with FTDNA tech support this morning for an update on when we would be able to download Family Finder raw data. Tech guy said they had just discussed this in a meeting this morning, and that they expect things to be up and running by the middle of next week.

So, April 3rd if we're lucky. (Two days standard delay, Easter, another day delay).

So far my prediction is looking good.

I really am astounded at their total incompetence. Why post message promising 'middle of next week' or 'Friday' when it all it does is annoy their customers. I'd much prefer it if they just said - 'We've no idea how long it'll take because we're a bunch of useless drongos.' At least then we'd know they were being honest.

That April 3rd date gibes well with the new message from Bennett on my homepage:

Quote:

March 28, 2013 - A good number of customers whose match results were missing since the Build update will see that those results have been restored. The remainder of those missing, along with the final adjustments on Build 37 will be uploaded on Tuesday April 2nd. That upload will include a number of previously unpublished results for testers whose data was queued for processing, as well as all the Relative Finder transfers that were done before 11am Central time today. Again, thank you for your patience and for your business. We appreciate them both.

I am assuming that the "final adjustments on Build 37" would then allow the raw data download to be turned back on, but you know what they say about assumptions

If you read the bulk of the threads on this forum that were posted the last few months, one of the more common complaints of FTDNA was their LACK of communication with its customers about what was going on. I posted a few of those myself. The company does seem to have figured out people were mad about that, and the number of "updates" seems to have increased substantially. I think that is an improvement, and am not going to join in the criticism that some of their estimates are off. I would imagine that if they did NOT include an estimated completion date, they would again be raked over the coals for not telling us enough. An "estimate" is just that, an estimate of when they think something might be done. It is not a pledge written in blood. Most estimates are going to be off a bit one direction or another, and I personally am not going to get excited about it. I would rather have the ballpark expected completion date than to be totally in the dark as the whether a service may be hours, days or months away.

Based on almost 50 years in IT, if you do the same process over and over again you get good at the estimates, but there are still exceptions. If you are doing a new thing or a one of a kind thing, it almost always takes longer than you can imagine at the outset.

The thing that FTDNA does over and over is the tests, and it seems they do a good job of that. The big IT conversions are mostly one of a kind and they are done in a retail environment with lots of users watching and commenting.

I was an early adopter and I just did an 'inventory' of my ancestors and realized I have more than half a dozen lines I have either added to or confirmed via Family Finder. It took cajoling eight relatives to test and more work than I imagined on trees (of matches as well as my own - still ongoing) and paper research.

I really need the raw data for one of the kits I manage for some advanced analysis with my other kits , the kit was batched on 12/11/12 and here it is almost 4 months later and still no raw data, I really hope today is the day, even if they still need to tweak the data Im not clear why we cant have our data with a disclaimer to come back later for any updates/changes , I am very grateful that we even have this resource available but the frustration with the delays is through the roof anyway.